


Not everything is as it seems

by nivalkenival



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, Arthur Finds Out, BAMF Merlin, Body Dysphoria, Genderqueer Arthur, Genderqueer Character, Merlin saves Arthur from Uther's problems, Multi, Uther is terrible in this, like bloody surgery, there will be some terrible surgery descriptions later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-28
Updated: 2014-12-27
Packaged: 2018-03-03 22:06:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2889626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nivalkenival/pseuds/nivalkenival
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long ago, King Uther and Queen Igraine were trying for a child but nothing worked, so Uther went to the sorceress Nimueh for help. She agreed to his request and soon Igraine was pregnant. However at the birth of their child Igraine died, the magic of the land needed a life to be given up for a new life to thrive. This loss left Uther with his daughter, however it was unlikely he would marry again and therefore there would be no more heirs to the Pendragon Dynasty, so he did a terrible thing, he called the baby Arthur, and told the kingdom as well as the other nobles that the child was male.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Where Uther has a lapse in judgement

**Author's Note:**

> So this all stemmed from a dream I had last night and one of my friends encouraged me to write it as a fanfiction.  
> There are some pretty dark things in here and a lot of dysphoria in this because Arthur isn't male but is forced to be male by Uther? yeah so if this isn't your cup of tea feel free not to drink it.  
> Eventually there will probably be some Merthur but right now it's in the bromance stage! I hope to update this regularlyish, hope you like it!  
> Also this is unbetaed so all spelling and grammatical mistakes are my own
> 
> Also I feel really uncomfortable using "he" when referring to Arthur because in this ff Arthur doesn't identify wholly as male so eventually Arthur will be referred to as they but for now Arthur is "he"

Long ago, King Uther and Queen Igraine were trying for a child but nothing worked, so Uther went to the sorceress Nimueh for help. She agreed to his request and soon Igraine was pregnant. However at the birth of their child Igraine died, the magic of the land needed a life to be given up for a new life to thrive. This loss left Uther with his daughter, however it was unlikely he would marry again and therefore there would be no more heirs to the Pendragon Dynasty, so he did a terrible thing, he called the baby Arthur, and told the kingdom as well as the other nobles that the child was male.  
  
Arthur grew up a strong and handsome male, the sword training and horseback riding gave him muscle and bulk which allowed him to fit in with the other boys. The maids who found the Prince’s bed marred with blood every month were silenced with the threat of death. Only the physician Gaius knew of the cause of the Prince’s ailments, the ones which did not allow Arthur to have a manservant because it’d be too much of a risk that they might tell the world, the reason why Arthur’s chest was always wrapped in bandages so no one could see the scarred chest tissue that was hidden from a botched surgery.  
  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
  
So the day that Merlin saved Arthur’s life happened to be the day that King Uther had a poor lapse in judgement of how well Arthur would be able to hide his “ailment” from a manservant. After the festivities Uther took Arthur aside.  
  
“You are not going to let your manservant know of any of that.” Uther stated gesturing to Arthur’s front. When he noticed Arthur seemed to not be paying attention he asked impatiently “Do you hear me Arthur? The-”  
  
Arthur sighed and rubbed his temples. “The state of the kingdom is at stake because the kingdom cannot lose it’s one true heir to this!” He gestured to himself angrily “I understand father, now if you'll excuse me I have to make sure my rooms won’t be messed up by my new manservant.” He snapped as he turned towards his rooms.  
  
“As long as you know what is at stake, you know Camelot is too important to fall because of your ailment” Uther called out as Arthur left the corridor to go to his rooms.  
  
Once Arthur had arrived in his room, he closed the door tight, nodding goodnight to the guard in the hall. He turned his back to the door and slowly walked to the table, gently picking up one of the metal water jugs he took a deep breath before throwing it as hard as he could against the wall as his eyes started to water. The jug bounced off of the wall and fell to the floor as Arthur stripped off his tunic and looked down upon his flattened chest in disgust.  
  
He didn’t want to be like this, to be over emotional for no good reason, to always have his father look upon him in disdain as if Arthur had intended to become this freak! He pressed his forearm to his eyes as he picked at the bandages with the other.  
  
“Real men don’t cry Arthur” That’s what his father told him, “you can’t be this emotional in court, it’ll ruin the kingdom” well so what! you ruined me! He thought angrily, using both arms to unravel the bandages around his chest.  
  
“The wounds need to breathe sire, or else there may be fear of infection” Gaius had told him, he looked down at the jagged lines marring his nipples. According to his father binding with bandages only worked for so long.  
  
He took a deep breath through his nose, before getting up and opening the closet. He pulled out his night clothes and changed quickly, tossing his tunic and trousers into the dirty clothes pile. At least he’s not bleeding yet, he thought humorlessly, one less thing I’ll have to hide from this idiot. He blew out the candles that were lighting the room and climbed into bed. At least tomorrow can’t be any worse he thought as he fell asleep.


	2. A bad day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A terrible morning due to Merlin, plus a bad knight? What Arthur wouldn't give for a relaxing bath....

How wrong could Arthur have been. Firstly thanks to Merlin not being on time with Arthur’s breakfast he was now late to training with the knights of the realm, secondly while he was eating the late breakfast Merlin failed at bringing up the armour from the armoury so now he is forced to go down late and change as fast as he can so Uther will not hear of this monstrosity. All of these thoughts and a lot of mental swearing at his new manservants incompetence were going through Arthur’s mind as he was pulling on his chestplate and having Merlin buckle it into place, as he pulled out his sword.

“Merlin, I will be done this training session in an hour, have a bath ready and waiting in my rooms when I return.” Arthur drawled as he tested the weight of the sword. Merlin nodded.

“Of course” He muttered before scurrying off to do whatever servants do before they have to fulfill the will of their masters Arthur thought as he made his way out to the training grounds.

Sir Leon was helping lead some of the newer knights through basic training exercises since they had used poor defence strategies during their fight to become a night of the realm. Arthur nodded at Leon when he looked away from the knights and Leon beckoned him over. As Arthur approached Leon turned away from the knights and raised an eyebrow in concern.

“How are they coming along?” Arthur asked, brushing off his friends concerning gaze as he watched the knights go about their training routines, seeing how their defences were coming along. Leon grimaced.

“The majority of them are learning at the pace one would expect from a son of a noble family, however for Sir Ellingham sire, the methods don’t seem to be getting through to him at all” Leon said softly, indicating to the knight on the far right who was attempting to attack the other knight rather than defend when he was being attacked. Arthur nodded slowly.

“What would you suggest we do with him? Show him that the method of attack does not work to win the battle without the proper defence?” Arthur contemplated. “Sir Ellingham is faster than most so Percival would be out of the question, and since he would be lithe on his feet……” he stopped and sighed. “Bring him to me Leon” 

Sir Ellingham was a man of medium height but a thin frame, which made him look almost gaunt. Arthur looked him straight in the eye as he said “Your method of fighting is not one which will help any of us if we were at war, infact it would probably see you first dead on the battle field. So why aren’t you defending yourself?” Arthur asked, brows furrowing in confusion.

“I don’t see why defence is so important sire, when if we are in a war the point is to attack” Sir Ellingham sneered. Arthur shook his head and sighed.

“A war isn’t about the attack, it’s about how long you can survive to take down as many of the enemy as possible” He said drawing his sword “Now, as this is a training fight we’re going to see how long you would last on a battlefield without any defence, understood?” He asked. The other knight nodded and drew his sword.

“On the count of three, one, two,three!” Arthur charged in and dodged Ellingham’s first strike, and hit him on the side with the sword as he dodged. “You’re now lying dead on the battlefield, the enemy was victorious and has now gone off to kill your friends, so your sacrifice was in vain” Arthur said sheathing his sword as he looked at Ellingham. “Do you understand why defence is important, hm?” Arthur crossed his arms. Ellingham looked embarrassed but nodded anyway. 

“Good, now get back to training, Leon spar with me” Arthur commanded, getting ready for some true exercise.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the time Arthur got back to his rooms he was soaked with sweat and really looking forward to the bath Merlin had hopefully remembered to pour. So when he saw the steaming tub he was so relieved that when he shut his door he forgot to bolt it.

Arthur stripped off his armour and left it on the table for Merlin to clean up after his bath before taking off his sweat soaked tunic, trousers, small clothes and bandages. He stepped into the bath and sat down, carefully making sure the rawer wounds were above water before he began to wash himself. 

As Arthur was washing his hair Merlin reentered the room, not bothering to knock since he thought that no one was in Arthur’s chambers. So it was entirely in shock of seeing Arthur in the room that he dropped his bucket which had more warm water in it.

Arthur turned around quickly at the loud thunk of the bucket hitting the ground and then covered his chest with his arms. “MERLIN!”


End file.
